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Patricio Mangubat is the new Juan dela Cruz. Put it succinctly, it is all about presenting a new brand to represent the Filipino People. For those who don't know, Patricio Mangubat stands for two words. " Patricio" is a formal name which is Iberian or Spanish word meaning " country". " Mangubat", meanwhile, is an old Tagalog term meaning " to go to the mountains or to fight." Put together, Patricio Mangubat stands for country or Patriots Fight.

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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Enrile-Cayetano Verbal Tussle: The Young vs The Old Guardians of a decrepit system

The Enrile-Cayetano tiff seems to be spiralling out of control, with the younger legislator attacking Enrile, some thirty years his senior, and his dad's law partner and brother in the fraternity. Enrile, according to those who covered the Senate yesterday, nearly lost his composure, and probably thought that he was crossing swords with old legal luminaries like Recto, Diokno and the like and must have realized that he is just trading barbs with the heir apparent of a deceased colleague.

And, yes, when all arguments have been exhausted, politicos normally resort to ad hominems or even to some personal attacks. In the case of Senator Cayetano's attack against Enrile, the young legislator pictured the Senate as a "pseudo conjugal" dictatorship, even dragging Enrile's Chief of Staff into the fracas. Atty. Gigi Reyes, in a strong showing of disgusts, handed over her resignation, which, of course, was not accepted by the old warrior.

What had happened to the Senate? It seems that the "old grand Senate" has now been turned into a circus. Never mind that relatives, fathers and sons, husbands and wives, turn this hallowed institution as a family fief and never mind if brothers and sisters, legitimate and illegimate sons and daughters populate the whole chamber with their petty thoughts of how to run this country, the fact of the matter is, the Senate is no more than the " higher" version of the local entertainment scene.

Some would say that the Enrile-Cayetano war is a sign of the "changing of the guards", from the old praetorian guards to the new, reform minded ones.

Look who are those people attacking the old guy---young ones who are trying to distance themselves from old politics by espousing on certain advocacies and even, triathlons and marathons. For all its worth, these new ones are positioning themselves as vanguards of the New Order, when, well in fact, they are the same as their predecessors---all Senators have lost their time to shine, except perhaps three exceptional senators: Teofisto Guingona IV, Panfilo Ping Lacson and Manny Villar.

Guingona is very active creating legislation that matters, while Ping Lacson is still the guy who advocated for change and reform a decade since while Manny Villar is still the beloved one who rose from poverty and now is swimming with the Castillians and the Chinese. Enuf said.

If someone would ask me what is that one institution that I want abolished, I will say, the Senate. The Senate is becoming a redundancy, something not too different from its sister, Congress.

In Congress, certain acts of patronage are being tolerated. How about the Senate? If we believe in Alan Peter, Tony Trillianes and Pia Cayetano, Enrile tolerated and even fostered certain acts that give Legislators some "god" powers. The masses expect these guys to practically be different but the more these guys stay in Congress, the more they stay the same.